


Spirits

by AutisticWriter



Series: Banana Fish Angst Week [3]
Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Anti-shippers don't interact, Banana Fish Angst Week 2019, Character Death, Drunkenness, Friendship, Gen, Ghosts, Grief/Mourning, Heavy Angst, One Shot, Post-Canon, Prompt Fic, Supernatural Elements, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 16:46:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17410562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticWriter/pseuds/AutisticWriter
Summary: After learning that Ash has died, Max gets drunk. And then a ghost appears in his apartment.[Prompt: Ghosts]





	Spirits

Ash is dead.

Ash is dead and Max doesn’t know what to do.

Ash is dead and he feels like his life is over.

\---

Everything was supposed to be resolved after Foxx and Golzine died and every piece of shit involved in this Banana Fish mess got arrested. Eiji went back to Japan with Shunichi. And Ash…

Obviously, Ash was majorly fucked up, as anyone who’d been through the things he had would be. But… but life was meant to be improving now.

But, no, the world had to screw them over one last fucking time.

After seeing Eiji and Shunichi off at the airport, Max’s phone rang. And when he answered it, their little bubble of stability burst. Because he got a call from the hospital. And they told him the terrible story.

A librarian found Ash slumped over a desk in the library, seemingly asleep. She prodded him, but he wouldn’t wake up. And when she pulled Ash’s shoulders backwards and heaved him into a sitting position, she found his shirt and pants soaked in blood. Ash died of a stab wound in the middle of a library and not one fucker noticed.

Ash died.

Max raced to the hospital, and got led to the morgue. He… he had to identify the body.

He had seen many dead people in his life, but nothing compared to the horror of that moment.

Swallowing back the urge to throw up, Max stared down at the slab, where Ash lay. He was disturbingly pale, his eyes closed like he was asleep. But Max knew a stab wound was hidden beneath the sheet covering his body, and…

Max swallowed hard, shocked to find a lump in his throat. And nodded. “Yeah. That’s him.”

\---

He knows Ash was murdered, but… that doesn’t seem to matter right now. Max is certain he’ll get up tomorrow and storm the police station and demand they find out who stabbed Ash, but right now, he just wants to mourn.

Ash is dead. Ash fucking Lynx is dead.

What will he tell Eiji?

Max sits in his apartment a few hours after identifying the body, trying to get the image of Ash’s corpse out of his mind. He wants to cry, but can’t seem to find the tears. He doesn’t even feel that raging anger right now.

He’s just… numb.

Getting up, he rushes into the kitchen and rummages through the cabinets, looking for alcohol. Whenever he’s numb or upset, Max finds getting pissed very effective. Probably not the best coping mechanism, but when you’ve been a soldier and caught up in gang wars, this sort of shit is pretty normal. He manages to find a bottle of whiskey and a shot glass, and collapses back into his seat.

A slight tremor in his hands, Max pours himself a shot and swallows it, the whiskey burning his tongue. He takes another four shots in a row, and then slumps back in his seat, staring up at the ceiling.

Seriously, what the fuck is he going to do now? How can Ash really be gone?

“Shit!” he hisses, taking a swig straight from the bottle.

Soon, a comfortable tipsiness starts to spread through him, and Max closes his eyes. Until he sees the body, and they snap open again.

Max sighs shakily, his hands shaking. He looks up from the bottle, staring at the switched-off TV—

And then gasps.

Next to the TV… stands Ash. But he’s sort of see-through and he doesn’t look quite real and of course he’s fucking not real because he’s fucking dead and shit just how much has he drunk and—

Max scrabbles to his feet, and runs. “What the fuck?!”

But the intoxication makes his limbs uncoordinated, and he stumbles. Max trips over his own feet and crashes to the floor.

What the fuck is going on? Did he just see a ghost? Or is he hallucinating?

Or is this a dream? No, the pain throbbing in his hands and left knee proves this is reality.

Trying to calm the fuck down, Max gets onto his knees, pain shooting up his leg from the awkward fall, and slings to the doorframe to pull himself to his feet.

“Hey, old man.”

He looks up. The ghost-or-maybe-hallucination of Ash stands right in front of him.

It’s pathetic to admit, but he shrieks. Max steps back so quickly the doorframe digs into his back, pure panic surging through his drunken mind.

Ash stares at him, a smirk on his face. “Calm down before you have a heart attack. It’s just me.”

“But… you’re dead,” Max gasps, taking the opportunity to back away slowly. But Ash just follows, hands in his translucent pockets.

“Yeah, of course,” Ash says. “I died and realised I was staring down at my body in the library, and that I’m a ghost. Don’t know how long I’ve got before I go onto some kind of afterlife or just vanish, so I thought I’d pay you a visit.”

Max blinks slowly, wishing he was sober. “What the fuck?”

Ash chuckles. “I know how you feel. Look, sorry for freaking you out like that.”

“Uh… s’okay, I guess,” Max says, wondering what is happening to him right now.

“I just wanted to say bye. I can’t stay too long, coz there are other people I need to see. So… I’m sorry it ended like this.”

“Don’t be an ass. You’re the one who died! Look, just tell me who did it.”

“No.”

“You little shit.”

Ash shakes his head. “No, because you’ll try and get revenge. I’ll tell someone who I know won’t go on a rampage. Someone sensible.” That smirk is back, a taunting smile.

Max sighs. “Fine, I get it. Just… I don’t know what to say. Never talked to a ghost before.”

“I get that.” Ash smiles properly and holds out a hand, only for it to go straight through Max’s shoulder. “Goodbye, Max. Promise you won’t do anything stupid.”

Realising this kid actually called him by his name, Max smiles. “I promise. Bye, Ash.”

And then the ghost of his dead friend disappears, and Max slumps to the floor.

\---

When Max falls asleep that night, instead of the body on a slab, he sees the ghost of Ash smiling at him.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't even realise the awful pun in the title until I'd almost finished the fic!
> 
> If you want me to write you a short fic, drop in a prompt at my [personal prompt meme](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/AutisticWriters_Personal_Prompt_Meme)!


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